Comic Mask (gongoli)

Artist Artist Unknown

Datemid-20th century

MediumWood, pigment, and raffia

Dimensions(including raffia): 42 × 14 × 10 ½ in. (106.7 × 35.6 × 26.7 cm)

ClassificationsWood

Credit LineGift of Reginald and Celeste Hodges

Object number2019.13.10

On View

Not on view

Label TextThis mask depicts the character of gongoli, whose role is to entertain and cause laughter, especially at times of stress or sadness, such as funerals. It is purposefully ugly to reflect its antisocial nature. Rather than illustrating “ways of being,” it performs how not to be.

The gongoli has only one ear pierced. Like the intentionally lopsided eyes and ears, this accentuates imbalance. Always the buffoon, he is performed as drunken and bumbling, to the delight of any children witnessing his antics, which they often participate in.ProvenanceCollected in Bo, Sierra Leone by Reginald Hodges, early 1970s; given to NCMA, 2019.
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